THE Chief Constable of Cleveland Police was compelled to join a force after being outraged by the attitude of a policeman towards a classmate who was sexually assaulted.

Jacqui Cheer said the police had made huge strides since she joined up 30 years ago, an era when women were not expected to last more than seven years, could only wear uniformed trousers after dark used their handbags as weapons.

“The attitude was we had joined the police to find a husband because we would not find one any other way,” she said.

“Once we found our man we would get married and never be seen again. But of the people I joined with everyone is still in the service. Our generation followed the people before us and we stuck it out.”

Mrs Cheer was bout to go to art college when a friend was sexually assaulted in a subway - a traumatic event which was to dramatically change her career path.

“A policeman came in and stood in front of a class of teenage girls and said she must have been wearing a short skirt and she was probably drunk,” she explained.

“And then there was this sort of lecture by a guy telling us that it was all our fault as she had put herself into that situation. It was that day that I decided to do something so I joined the police.”

Speaking to an audience celebrating International Women’s Day under the banner 'Inspiring Change’ at Middlesbrough Town Hall on Saturday, Mrs Cheer told the women and girls in the audience that even small changes could be effective.

“You need to believe in yourself and have an ambition, seize the moment yourself or support others,” she added.

As a young 23-year-old constable she was coaxing intimate details out of a woman wrapped in a blanket following a sexual attack when a male officer came into the interview room and asked, in front of the victim, if she was making the story up. “It was not acceptable but it was not unusual,” she said.

With fellow female officers she collected a pile of clean clothes for other vulnerable women which were kept under lock and key, an early forerunner to a SARC or Sexual Assault Referral Centre.

“Despite everything that’s happening at the moment with the police it’s the best job in the world.

"Policing is in a really difficult place at the moment, we cannot say that’s just the past but it’s largely the women officers who are making the changes,” she added.

Comments (4)

Jacqui go away will you, they should A19 you (forced to retire after 30 years).
All you do is live of other peoples misfortune and alleged wrong doing.
You treat your officers like dirt, and sack them for anything just to save money, well that's not true you're too much of a coward, you get your hench men like White or Spittal to do it, your 10 times worse than price.

Jacqui go away will you, they should A19 you (forced to retire after 30 years).
All you do is live of other peoples misfortune and alleged wrong doing.
You treat your officers like dirt, and sack them for anything just to save money, well that's not true you're too much of a coward, you get your hench men like White or Spittal to do it, your 10 times worse than price.NO EINSTEIN

NO EINSTEIN wrote:
Jacqui go away will you, they should A19 you (forced to retire after 30 years).
All you do is live of other peoples misfortune and alleged wrong doing.
You treat your officers like dirt, and sack them for anything just to save money, well that's not true you're too much of a coward, you get your hench men like White or Spittal to do it, your 10 times worse than price.

Don't minus me unless you know what I do.

[quote][p][bold]NO EINSTEIN[/bold] wrote:
Jacqui go away will you, they should A19 you (forced to retire after 30 years).
All you do is live of other peoples misfortune and alleged wrong doing.
You treat your officers like dirt, and sack them for anything just to save money, well that's not true you're too much of a coward, you get your hench men like White or Spittal to do it, your 10 times worse than price.[/p][/quote]Don't minus me unless you know what I do.NO EINSTEIN

I want to know what she did after the male officer asked the sexual assault victim if she had made it up? I suspect she did nothing but she,s deliberately left that bit out. Not to be trusted I fear. Time for Amalgamation to rid Cleveland Police of the corrosive corruption it has suffered for years.

I want to know what she did after the male officer asked the sexual assault victim if she had made it up? I suspect she did nothing but she,s deliberately left that bit out. Not to be trusted I fear. Time for Amalgamation to rid Cleveland Police of the corrosive corruption it has suffered for years.ian923

Well she must have been pretty cheesed off when she found they had a rapist on the payroll & not for the first time.
Why did it need the local news team to break the news of what may well have been a very inadequate investigation.
Why are CP so determined to find the source of the internal leak when they would be better off finding out why the investigation was so poor in the first place.

Well she must have been pretty cheesed off when she found they had a rapist on the payroll & not for the first time.
Why did it need the local news team to break the news of what may well have been a very inadequate investigation.
Why are CP so determined to find the source of the internal leak when they would be better off finding out why the investigation was so poor in the first place.Claude Ted